Spiderwebs Chapter 3
by Savannah Khoury
Summary: Spider meets O' Mallory, Tsuji, and Rieko.


After the conversation with Morgan about Delia, we turned off abruptly into the next subject: me moving in. I would need to find a job so I could pay my half of the rent, which wasn't even that bad. Morgan already worked as a mechanic at a car repair center. LeBasil was Morgan's last name, a French name incase it needs to be any more obvious. Turns out Morgan is married to a man named Stephen LeBasil, who is one hundred percent French even though he was born in America. He doesn't live with Morgan anymore because he is searching all around different states for a good job. It only took me a few minutes to unpack the few belongings I brought with me. Afterwards Morgan told me about her job and her husband and showed me around the house. Like I said before, it was only slightly bigger than my home back in the Bronx. And most of the day I couldn't get little Delia off of my mind. How could someone so innocent be deprived of her pride at such an early age? I hoped she was so drunk she didn't remember what happened. Or maybe that would just make it worse: having a baby and not remembering how it happened. I also learned a lot more about Morgan. She isn't a depressive at all. I find it funny sometimes, how when you meet someone for the first time, they seem one way but as you get to know them you realize how different they really are. Morgan LeBasil is the complete opposite of depressive. She is a coffee addict and is insanely hyper at times. When Morgan is hyper, the best thing to do is run for cover. I think she is also the most fickle person I have ever met. She has so many mood swings it's hard to keep track of her personality sometimes. Lets say one morning the angry Morgan wakes up and decides to trash her bedroom. An hour later the cheerful Morgan walks in the room and says, "Oh my! What happened in here?" The morning after I moved in, I was the first person at the breakfast table, chowing down on a bowl of cheerio's. Morgan came in shuffling one foot slowly in front of the other, while yawning and stretching her arms above her head. "Wha' are you doing up s'early?" Morgan asked, yawning again. "I have to go job searching, remember?" I reminded her. Morgan smiled while sitting down across from me and said, "Its your second day, how about you just settle in." "Are you sure?" I asked. "Positive. I have to introduce you to some friends." Morgan said, getting off of her chair which made a creaking noise as she stood up. She walked towards the stove and boiled water (for her coffee of course). "Where are we going?" I asked. "Oh, you'll see." She replied walking into her room to get dressed. About an hour later, we were heading out the door. "Psh, fuck." Morgan said exasperated, after accidently closing the door on her finger, "Shit, why do I always do that? I'm such a retard Spider, honestly, I am." Morgan must have been the only person I've ever met who could call me Spider like it was just a regular old name, as if it were something like Ashley or Lauren. "No your not, Morgan. So who's car are we taking?" I said. Ignoring my first sentence, Morgan replied, "We're walking. Let's hurry." The heat was unbearable. We walked slowly along the sidewalk, taking our time to not lose our energy. Along the way we were just mostly talking about useless topics, and laughing at the stupidest things. And Morgan isn't 21, she just turned 19. "It was the dumbest article I've ever seen, seriously, who would believe that a baby was born 536 pounds?" Morgan laughed. "I hate those newspapers. I mean what do they take us for? We may be a stupid society sometimes, but no one is that naïve. An 8 year old wouldn't even believe that article." I replied. That's when the conversation got more serious. "You know what Spider? You promise not to laugh if I tell you something?" Morgan asked solemnly. "Promise, what is it?" I asked. "I always get worried that one day some comet up there flying by isn't going to like the way our society lives, and it'll just decide to come down and kill a few of us." Morgan said. "Why is that?" I replied. "Because everyone is so corrupt. We strut around pretending we're the best because in our minds we know everything and we're smarter then the rest of the world. You turn on the TV and every other channel has girls with plastic bodies in bikini's. We turn to death for all of our problems. I mean, if you have an issue with someone, why not just kill them? If you don't want a baby why not just have an abortion? If you hate your life why don't you just go jump off a cliff? We live in a society of death, and all the actual smart people hate us for it. You know if we were to go to another country right now speaking in these accents they'd laugh at us. Because we're American's and we think we're the best." Morgan said. All I could do was say, "I think I know what you mean." I guess I was never really the loud, talkative person. I was never brave, daring, or exciting. I can be tough when I need to, from growing up where I did. But from living in the Bronx I also learned never to mess with anyone you've never seen before unless if you want a bullet to your head. I know I had no reason to feel that way around Morgan since we were apparently becoming good friends, but that's just the way I adapted to speaking. "The problem is that about 10% of the population could agree with me, how is that 10% going to change the rest of that 90%?" I added. Morgan shrugged and said, "No one wants to hear the truth anymore. All they want to hear is what they want to hear." We were both squinting to keep the sun out of our eyes. "Even if they want to hear the truth they still are too stubborn to hear the truth from someone but themselves." Morgan added. "That's what bothers me about people. But then again, everyone is like that every once in a while. We can't blame people for doing what's human nature, can we?" I said. Morgan nodded in agreement just as she was opening a door to a place called "Corner Café". She walked in first, and me afterwards. "Morgan! Over here!" a boy, or should I say man who looked around Morgan's age called to her. He was sitting at a table with four other people, one of which looked familiar: Delia. Except sitting on her lap was a little blonde haired blue eyed baby who looked about two years old. The other two were Asian looking and were holding hands. They must have been about twenty- three or so. Morgan grinned and approached the table. I followed Morgan shyly, feeling everyone staring at me. Delia smiled and said, "Hi Spider!" I smiled back, well a bit of a smile, at Delia and said, "Hi Delia." Morgan pulled out a chair out and sat down next to the boy. I sat in between Morgan and the Asian woman. Morgan announced, "Guys this is Spider, she's living with me now. Spider, this is Rieko and Tsuji." She pointed towards the Asian couple. The woman, Rieko, had beautiful black plaited black hair, and her boyfriend Tsuji had short black hair he flipped up with gel. Then Morgan pointed towards the boy with the spiked brown hair, green eyes, and pierced eyebrow. "This is O'Mallory." Morgan said. "O'Mallory Ryan. Its not the other way around." O'Mallory snickered nodding at me. "And you know Delia, and this is her son-" Morgan started when Delia interrupted, "This is my boy, Vincent." "He's adorable Delia." I said smiling at Delia, and looking at the baby. Naturally, being perfect Delia's baby he really was adorable. And from what I heard about Billy being too charming for his own good, having two good looking parents, this kid will be a knockout when he's grown up. Poor Delia will have girls calling 24/7. At first I thought maybe Delia and O'Mallory were a couple, until I found out they were cousins and Delia was living with O'Mallory. Morgan told me the other day that Delia's parents didn't want "a slut" living in their household. I still never ceased to be amazed by Delia's cheerfulness when her life was a series of bad events. She looks perfect, like the type of girl who has everything, but she really isn't. Her parents literally ignore her existence now, and O'Mallory is her only relative that accepts her. "Where you use' live?" Rieko asked in her Japanese accent. "The Bronx, in the city." I replied. Rieko nodded, and Tsuji said in almost perfect English, "I've been there lots of times." "Yeah, its not the most fun place in the world to live in." I replied. "It is a lovely place." Tsuji said. I had no idea what he meant by that. How was the Bronx a lovely place? Sure, its real lovely thing to hear gunshots every night, police sirens, and cars speeding by. Real lovely. "I don't think it is." O'Mallory said taking a sip of his coffee. I laughed, "Yeah, you can say that." Vincent started crying and Delia said, "Uh-oh, looks like someone needs a diper change.Vincent shit in his pants again." "Delia, you gotta stop talking like that in front of the baby." O'Mallory said. She was already getting up and walking to the bathroom with Vincent, "Oh shit Mallory, he doesn't understand what I'm saying. He's two years old dammit." I've never heard Delia curse before. I thought that she was always cheery, even with that past of her's. But how stupid am I? Of course she's allowed to get frustrated sometimes, like every other living thing in the universe.  
  
O'Mallory rolled his eyes as Delia walked off to the bathroom to change Vincent's underwear. I guessed he wasn't doing too well with his potty training. "Morgan I don't know what to do anymore." O'Mallory groaned, resting his head on the table. "She's only 16 O'Mallory." Morgan said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "But I'm only 19. And she doesn't know what to do, neither do I. I can't help her, I just can't." O'Mallory said, in a weary exasperated tone. Tsuji said, "You are the most determined person I know Mallory. You think you don't know what to do, but somewhere you can help her, in a subconscious kind of way." Rieko sat silently next to me the whole time. We observed everything going on, taking in everyone's words. Rieko must have just been quiet by nature, but me? I was a freak, a loser, an outcast. No one really wanted me there. Maybe Morgan could tolerate me, and Delia also, but did they really care if I was there or not? I must have had a distressed look on, because both Morgan and O'Mallory were staring at me, and they quickly changed the subject. "So Spider, like it here so far?" Morgan asked. I nodded and O'Mallory said, "Quiet, aren't ya?" I shrugged and said, "It depends." Morgan said, "Oh, give her a break. She just met all of you."  
  
"We'll turn her into a talker." O'Mallory said. Tsuji rolled his eyes and said, "No, you'll turn her into a zombie." I had no idea what Tsuji meant by that, but everyone was laughing. It must have been one of those weird inside jokes. "I sure do hope not, Spider, stay away from this one. He's evil." Morgan laughed. O'Mallory said to me, "See how they always pick on me? Its only me, no one else." Morgan put her arms around his neck and said, "Aw but we love you so much." Delia finally came out of the bathroom with the baby and Vincent was crying. "Shh, come on Vincent, stop crying." Delia assured the baby, patting his back. Morgan smiled and said, "Here Delia, let me hold him." Delia quickly sat the baby on Morgan's lap. Morgan cooed and cradled him, rocking him silently to sleep. Delia stared from the now sleeping Vincent up to Morgan, with envy flashing in her bright blue eyes. I could just imagine what was going through her mind. How could Morgan be so good with Delia's baby when Delia couldn't even get him to stop crying? Rieko noticed it as well. She smiled up at Delia reassuringly without saying a word. I wondered if Rieko's quiet nature had anything to do with her not always being able to pronounce some English words, or if it was something else. Like if she was raised as I was. But Tsuji and O'Mallory were real talkers. They were talking up a storm with Morgan and Delia, seeming as if Rieko and I weren't there. But it was better for Rieko, Tsuji was still holding her hand. I had no connection to any of them whatsoever. "I'm getting a new guitar." O'Mallory announced out of the blue. "You play the guitar?" I asked, deciding to get myself into the conversation. "Yeah, do you?" he asked. "No, but I always thought it would be cool to learn how." I replied. "I can teach you. You can have my old one." O'Mallory suggested. I shrugged and said, "You don't have to, I'm hopelessly untalented." "Now she's gonna get him started." Delia groaned.  
  
"There's no such thing as being hopelessly untalented. Now I'm teaching you whether you like it or not." O'Mallory replied with a determined glint in his eyes. Tsuji said, "I told you he would turn her into a zombie." Morgan snorted and said, "I think we're scaring the poor girl." I found it amazing how they were all talking about me suddenly. "He turn all girl into zombie." Rieko said in her Japanese accent. O'Mallory was as happy with the attention as I was. He was grinning like an idiot, and smiled at me. I smiled back weakly. Morgan rolled her eyes and said to Delia in a hoarse whisper, "Honestly we have to do something about your cousin." Delia with her usual beautiful smile said, "I don't think there is anything we can do about him. Now Tsuji on the other hand." Tsuji laughed along with Rieko. Tsuji had a loud, somewhat charming laugh. Rieko just chuckled a bit. Morgan looked at her watch and said, "Mm, hey Spider we should get back." I nodded and O'Mallory said, "Hey, maybe I could walk back with you?" Delia said, "I'm going to stay with Rieko. Tsuji has work." Rieko smiled at Delia, as Tsuji stood up and shook my hand saying, "It was nice to meet you Spider. See you around." "See ya." I replied as he left. O'Mallory snatched my wrist and yanked me out of my chair saying, "C'mon, lets go." I got my wrist from O'Mallory's grasp and said, "Ok, ok, I'm coming." "Bye you guys!" Delia said still smiling. We left the café to find it was even more humid than before. Except now there were dark gray clouds in the sky. "It's gonna rain." O'Mallory announced looking up at the sky. 


End file.
